Horror Yearbook: Many of your books deal with a common taboo in American horror, that of children endangered. What compels you to explore this topic?
Eric Enck: I was endangered, while I was young, so it is an interesting topic for me. My father was quite abusive. I find it interesting writing about children or anyone for that matter, climbing out of the darkness of a terrible situation.
HYB: A childhood incident involving a family pet is said to be have been the catalyst for your dark interests. Care to share the details?
EE: When I was fifteen, we had a family dog that was a puppy when I was in my infancy. So you can imagine how close I was to the animal at the tender age. My Father forced me to kill the dog using a shotgun. I unfortunately committed this task, but in doing so missed most of the dog. He suffered for many moments in front of me. It was my brother who finally laid him to rest. I saw a school psychiatrist briefly after the event, stated: “Every time you have dark feelings or thoughts, write them down.” So here I am.
HYB: Your bio suggests a rather solitary, or at least isolated upbringing. Describe how that fed your imagination.
EE: I read a lot of books. Even before tragedy, I was reading every author I could from ten years old onwards. My penchant for horror came from the unearthing of Stephen King’s THE SHINING. I also found Clive Barker in my father’s basement, the covers as moldy as the room I stayed in growing up. I lived in the mountains of Southern Pennsylvania. No friends. No neighbors. It was just my dog and I. Then it was just me. Books fueled my imagination, as well as wanting to kill my father.
HYB: Your bio also mentions the work of Lovecraft and Stephen King’s The Shining as early favorites. What do you read now?
EE: I have found my appetite as a horror fan satisfied by many new authors. I really enjoy Brian Keene’s work, as well as Brian Knight. Cassandra Lee is the female version of King, and she hasn’t even started. I am also growing a fondness for Brett Easton Ellis, and Irvine Welsh, whose books are not horror per-say, but every bit as frightening in their themes.
HYB: Your first book Tell Me Your Name (about a killer who preys on pregnant women) was based on a dream. How much of the book’s content truly came from the dream? Are most of your dreams vivid and horrific?
EE: Yes, I would say beyond horrific if that’s possible. In this day and age, I think it is. I dreamt not to long ago of my wife and kids dying in our house from a fire. I awoke unscathed, and when I found them, they were stuck together, melted. I tried to pull them apart in a panic. They couldn’t speak but their eyes told me everything I could ever want to know. I awoke screaming, as I do often. I have dear friends who I kill in my dreams. I can’t control them (who can?) I have dreams like that all the time. One of my best friends, a reporter and a collaborator for a future novel coming out next summer called SNUFF has died in my dreams. The mind is a vast temple with many rooms. TELL ME YOUR NAME was quite successful for me, because of the idea of writing a serial killer that can’t be stopped by ordinary police procedurals. I incorporated the nightmares I had while writing it into the book. One scene in particular where a cop is impaled on a wall riddled with deer antlers and torn apart by wolves came from a dream. Too much whiskey I guess, and not enough sleep. I think I’m still writing when I close my eyes. My wife was pregnant at the time and I needed motivation for my serial killer. I was staring at her beautiful body one day, and saw how much her belly had grown with my child inside. Suddenly, motivation was on the way.
HYB: There’s a notable cross-referencing of sub-genres in some of your work, such as the serial killer meets vampire angle in The Reckoning. What inspired this?
EE: I enjoy doing that. I think it’s not my trademark, but eventually it’s what I will be known for. TELL ME YOUR NAME was about a demonic serial killer, who could very well be the anti-Christ. The Reckoning was serial killer vs. vampire. GHOST OF A CHANCE was a ghost against demons… I think it’s wonderful to write about let’s say, vampires for example. But when you can mix different elements together that is really interesting. In 2010, I have a zombie novel coming out called SÉANCE where children turn into zombies because of a haunted painting, and the devil is jealous of the painting itself. I wanted to write a zombie novel, but not follow the constant cross-referencing of people turn to zombies because of chemicals. That’s been done so much. THE RECKONING came apparent while I was signing copies of my first novel at a Barnes and Noble. A young man approached me dressed as Dracula. In his hand was Anne Rice’s INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE. After he bought a book and he left, I had a thought. “What if vampires were real, and if so, what would they think about vampire novels?” I also wanted to write a novel involving a female serial killer for a change. Women can be dangerous as they are sexy. So eventually, the antagonist, was murdering children because of her abusive past, and emulating her vampire books while doing so. She doesn’t realize however that her latest victim is a real vampire’s daughter.
It also made an interesting book because there is no protagonist. You have a vicious child murdering young sexy woman, and although you want her dead, you can’t help but understand why she is murdering all these people. On the other side of the fence, you have a legendary evil. A blood-drinking corpse, but…he has a daughter. It forces you to pick a side. I like that.
HYB: Black Train Jack finds you venturing into graphic novel territory along with artist Daniele Serra. How did this project come about and was it as satisfying as pure prose?
EE: I’ve always been a huge fan of comics. I should go further and say, I’ve always been a huge fan of BATMAN. I think the character is very interesting from a realistic viewpoint. I always wanted to create a horror character for the comics, but had other endeavors to meet. Daniele Serra illustrates DR.WHO the comic, and he also illustrated the SOUND OF HORROR anthology. My publisher hired him to illustrate various horror covers, and he took an interest to my work and asked to work alongside me on a project. So I jumped at it, and came up with a really brutal character. The story is a fantasy. And Black Train Jack is the protector of author’s ideas while they find them. He lives in a land where castles are made from writer’s block. He has a haunted straight razor that he carries his dead sister’s ashes in. There are so many twists and turns and characters. It will be an ongoing series starting in March. Jack has a girlfriend who is half woman, half motorcycle. He rides a haunted train that is fueled by the ghosts of miscarried children. It’s very imaginative, and a different breather for me from my other works.
HYB: Train was one of several collaborations. What are some of the dynamics of working with another author?
EE: Perspective mainly. With Dani, he let me have full run of his offerings. I wrote scenes in which he illustrated. He is wonderful to work with. Recently, and this is the first time I ever said this, he asked to start an entirely new project. Seems he has a fondness for haunted houses, so we will see. Jane Timm Baxter and I have a book coming out next Halloween. With Jane, she had a set goal in mind, and had a lot of fun going back and forth with me. It was like playing bloody ping-pong. Adam Huber, who I wrote SNUFF with, is a realist, in a sense that he wanted to write a non-paranormal book, meaning all my monsters would have to be put in their cages for the time being. It was quite fun. I think SNUFF is probably my scariest work, because the story we worked out together could really happen. Vampires probably won’t invade your house and steal children, but there are serial murderers and rapists making films in real life. SNUFF is a brutal book. I am scared of it. Even so, Adam is a brilliant writer, and his skills are unique. He writes short, choppy “I’m going to kill you” sentences, where I am very interested in back-stories. I think it worked out really well. There are scenes in that book you won’t forget.
HYB: You have a backlog of several books awaiting release. Do you ever take a break from writing?
EE: Never. And that’s probably a good thing. A safe thing. If I’m not writing, I’m doing a signing, or helping another author find the truth in their dreams. Without stories the world would be a strange place and without color. I tend to believe that I would commit awful acts of crime if I did not write books. It’s a safe and healthy escape for me.
HYB: What’s your personal favorite of your works and why?
EE: So far it would be GHOST OF A CHANCE because even though it’s a brutal horror novel filled with incredible amounts of gore, it has a lot of heart. It’s a love story at the bottom of a bloody pond. And under the waves of blood the treasures depict my childhood, and my meeting my wife. The main characters are basically very much like my wife and I. So it’s my most personable. It’s also the very first book I ever wrote. It just happens to be the third one published.
HYB: DEVOTION marks your first foray into screenwriting. Is that project finished? Do you plan to write more movies?
EE: DEVOTION is done filming, and has entered the film festival phase. My next film based on my work is a short story I wrote for THE SOUND OF HORROR anthology. It’s about a haunted radio station where songs being requested by folks at home are killing them. I’m actually going to be involved in directing it as well.
HYB: What are some favorite films, and why?
EE: No doubt, THE SHINING. I liked the claustrophobic, isolated feel of it. And I can relate. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (old one) was very disturbing and fun. I also am quite fond of Japanese anime, and pretty much all serial killer films. Old 80’s horror movies were very good. I appreciate the horror films of today, and am glad it is moving more and more towards hack/slash and terrify rather than the suspense. I don’t care about what’s waiting around the corner. I care about the son of a bitch coming at me with a chainsaw.
HYB: The writer’s strike has brought to light the unfair way writers are treated by the Holywood system. What is your impression of the filmmaking process, as it relates to writers?
EE: I think for the most part, it’s a symbiosis of sorts. Hollywood needs to realize and quick, that without the writers, they would be nothing. There would be no shows, no sitcoms, nothing…the attitude where they are saying, ”Writers need producers and the show” that doesn’t work for me. Movies and the like wouldn’t survive and would cease to exist without the writers. I think a lot of them are under paid. If you can pay a quarterback 20 million dollars to year to catch a football, why can’t you pay a writer even half that to get the syndication together to depict that show where the quarterback is catching the football? We need them, make no mistake, and they need equal parts in the profit sharing.
HYB: Any other projects coming up that aren’t mentioned on your website?
I am involved with a calendar of horror, something many others and I have never seen before. It’s being produced by D.W. Green (Twisted Twins) where there are 365 tales by various authors. One tale for each day of the year. It’s coming out in September 2008.
Other than that, I have eleven novels coming out between now and 2012. A short story collection about the horrors of menstruation (called MONTHLY BLOOD) SNUFF, FISHERS OF CHILDREN, SÉANCE, and many more…
I’ve also written the direct sequel to DRACULA.
HYB: This will be the second novel with the Dracula character. What significance does he hold for you?
EE: Well with The Reckoning, the signifigance was by and large, I wanted to use Dracula as a modern villian with a family. DRACULA IS BLEEDING is a direct sequel. The story picks up where Stoker left off. Dracula was the last subject I studied in High School (History) and it stayed with me. I’ve read Stoker’s novel more than I’ve read any other.
- Interview by Patrick Green
More info about Eric:
http://www.myspace.com/snuff08
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071028/LIFE/710280331
